Kristen Neel not alone in not having a clue about Australia

Mark FurlerMark Furler is APN Australian Regional Media’s group digital editor. He’s an award-winning journalist who has lived and worked on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast for more than 25 years. He’s passionate about fighting for a better go for locals. His awards include APN Editor of the Year, and involvement in three PANPA Newspaper of the Year wins for the Sunshine Coast Daily.

Local Real Estate

Cars For Sale

THE tweet by a US teenager about moving to Australia where there is a Christian president should not surprise anyone.

Many Americans know about as much about Australia as they do Austria.

I remember once being asked where I was from by a waitress in a food outlet in the US.

After telling her Australia, she replied: "How far is that drive?''

Given the level of coverage of Australian politics on US TV news, you can forgive Kristen Neel for her tweet: "I'm moving to Australia, because their president is a Christian and actually supports what he says.''

Twittersphere jumped on the post, retweeting it about 1500 times before she deleted her Twitter account.

Before she went offline, poor Kristen tried to explain that she was referring to the previous office that "actually had a moral position''.

As the teenager was ridiculed on Twitter, others jumped to her defence saying she had been the victim of "trolls''.

Christian church leaders have not been shy in criticising the election of Barack Obama, slamming support for same-sex marriage and abortion.

Senior pastor of Bethel Church in California Bill Johnson posted the following on Facebook.

"Yesterday the US voters said yes to the immoral slaughter of the unborn, and the immoral redefinition of the family.

"They revealed an addiction to big government fixing their problems, and a jealousy over those who succeed. They chose a position of dishonor towards Israel. These choices carry consequences. I pray for mercy.

"Can God heal our nation? Yes. Does He need godliness in the White House to accomplish it? No. It is time for us to pray? More than ever.''

The post was liked by almost 30,000 people and prompted more than 3000 posts, including plenty slamming Ps Johnson.

"It looks like I found the mother of all hornets nests,'' he posted later.

"God is still God. He is always good. He still has a plan for this nation, even if we chose to "go around the mountain" again.''

The leaders from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued a statement congratulating Barack Obama on his re-election win.

"After a long campaign, this is now a time for Americans to come together,'' the statement said.

"It is a long tradition among Latter-day Saints to pray for our national leaders in our personal prayers and in our congregations.

"We invite Americans everywhere, whatever their political persuasion, to pray for the President, for his administration and the new Congress as they lead us through difficult and turbulent times.''